BALANCE of CULTURE

Diamonds Are Forever? Not Even Close

I loathe the diamond industry simply because it exploits some of the most impoverished lands and people for a quick first-world buck. These gems that we're all so used to seeing promoted, especially during the holiday season, are no more than huge liabilities when it comes to a country's economic outlook. 

Botswana, well known for their diamond industry (which was even supported by Kim Kardashian a while back), is now experiencing a setback despite its "relatively" positive deal with DeBeers back in the 1960s. Under their agreement, the Botswana government would split a 50/50 joint venture with DeBeers rather than simply taxing them on their revenues. Botswana quickly became the world's leader of diamond production and is now the source of over 1/5 of our world's diamonds. 

When such a lucrative industry embeds itself in an otherwise impoverished backdrop, the involved parties have no choice but to scramble in a gold rush-paced growth rate. There was nothing seemingly wrong with this scenario until people began to realize that Botwana's diamond resources were quickly running out. Now it's undeniable--the industry is expected to dry up within 20 years, prompting President Seretse Khama to address this issue in his recent State of the Union.

But why should we care? Well, it's pretty obvious that the typical Botwanian isn't the average customer for diamonds, even though these stones came out of their own backyards, so to speak. DeBeers knew what it was doing when it descended upon the undeveloped nation decades ago. As long as people of means continue to desire these ethically-questionable objects, those who live at the source won't have much of a future. Despite that this industry has given way to many local jobs over the years, that same industry will move on when it has depleted all of its resources.

So for Botwana's diamond industry, we've got twenty years to go. Time for them to figure out how to wean themselves off this industry (and hopefully pave the way for other diamond-focused economies to follow its lead), and time for first-worlders to realize that diamonds are an archaic tradition that we no longer need to perpetuate to our future generations.

Illegal Poaching Rising at Alarming Rates

Illegal poaching of animals like rhinos and elephants (for their horns and ivory) is growing at an alarming rate in Africa right now--even to the point where the gruesome practice is being questioned as security threat to the US. (These crimes are becoming such an issue that Secretary Hillary Clinton and President Obama intend to discuss the subject with regional leaders in their Asia trip next week.) 

Luckily, more governments are recognizing this proliferating problem. A South African court recently sentenced Chumlong Lemtongthai to a record 40 years in prison for his leading role in international rhino poaching. But charges against his equally despicable cohort, game farmer Marnus Steyl, were withdrawn with Lemtongthai's guilty plea.

PLEASE take a moment with this quick petition to reinstate criminal charges against Steyl. None of these animals have any way to defend themselves; we must educate the public and protect these animals through policies that are actually enforced by high-level arrests and convictions. Once these animals are gone, they're gone for good. 

 

The Arithmetics of Secession

Does secession equate to "giving up"? With so much talk of certain states wanting to secede from the United States this week (yes, again), it's fair to point out that not all Republicans agree with such extreme action. A snippet from Red State:

Barack Obama won the election.

He did not win by stealing the election. Voter irregularities always happen. It is one reason we support voter ID rules. But even in the worse scenario of reports out there, there were not enough tales of voter irregularities to matter nationwide. This is another benefit and built in safeguard of the electoral college.

Barack Obama won. He won by turning out the most people in a well run campaign. In other words, he won fair and square. Instances of voter fraud should be taken seriously and we urge their investigation. But any instances of voter fraud would not have altered the ultimate outcome of this election.

We here at RedState are American citizens. We have no plans to secede from the union. If you do, good luck with that, but this is not the place for you.

There's more, of course, in their post that becomes a bit…inaccurate. However, this is only the beginning of the divide that is happening right now in the very-wounded GOP brand. 

The peculiar part is, let's say a big state like Texas did actually secede, forfeiting its 38 electoral votes with it. That would be a guaranteed fast-track pass for the Dems to get their 251(formerly 270) electoral college votes. "Arithmetic," as Bill Clinton would say. Fortunately, Texas is a large enough state with diversely-populated cities that would collectively cringe over the thought of seceding--and many believe Texas is headed to represent itself as an official blue state within the next two presidential elections, anyway. 

Military Invasions Leading to Cultural Influence

Stuart Laycock started researching for his new book after his 11-year old son asked him a very simple question: How many countries has Britain invaded overall?

Britain's history is much better documented than most countries, and for obvious reasons--at the end of Laycock's two-year research cycle, he concluded that all but a mere 22 nations in the world had at one point experienced some kind of British invasion. Again, that means every single country in the world except for 22. That's just stunning.

To be entirely accurate, Laycock actually suspects that some of the untouched 22 (such as Mongolia) could have been invaded by Brits at some point but the lack of hard evidence restricted him from including such cases. 

The next country to top the list of most world invasions is France, which shouldn't surprise anybody who can remember their high school history classes. 

And the connection to today? Notice how these countries have extremely active and well-funded cultural organizations that work as ambassadors for their people instead of their governments. Britain has the British Council, France has Alliance Française, and I'll also throw in Germany's Goethe Institut.

None of these organizations are embedded within their government structure, as that would be adding unwanted baggage to an already difficult task. Sometimes the role of people and culture is to try to balance out their government's mistakes as well as to ensure the distinction between citizens and states. 

Definitely on my reading list now: All the Countries We've Ever Invaded: And the Few We Never Got Round To

Australia Commits to an "Asian Century"

Is this kind of bold educational initiative the result of having a female leader in power? It's still early in the process, but Australia is clearly preparing for an "Asian century." PM Julia Gillard has committed to 25 ambitious goals over the next 13 years for her nation to integrate with the "unstoppable" and "staggering" growth of their regional neighbors. 

All schools in Australia will partner with schools throughout Asia, giving every Aussie student an opportunity to learn one of four "priority" Asian languages (Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Indonesian). By the time students graduate high school, they'll be expected to have a solid foundational understanding of Asia, similarly to how most Western educations have up until now focused primarily on a European-centric knowledge base. 

Thousands of scholarships for Asian students will be offered, a useful exchange for all of the new diplomatic posts that will be established. In addition, one-third of company higher-ups and senior civil workers will be required to have a "deep knowledge" of Asia. Gillard sounds really serious about this Asia-centric approach. 

This is a profoundly progressive way of broadening public student education--so cutting-edge that I wonder if we should attribute such innovation to the fact that the country's PM is a woman. Either way, I predict Australia's image and influence will enjoy a considerable boost as it attaches its values with an Asian perspective. 

(Meanwhile in the US, many are still debating if our schools should teach creationism or evolution.)

Greece's Xenophobia Issue

It's a scary time for minorities living in Greece right now. 

WIth all of Greece's economic troubles so well documented in the media the past year, the extreme right-wing antics of Golden Dawn--which include everything from harassment to murder--are finally coming to surface all over. And it isn't only ethnic minorities (Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Tanzanian, to name a few) that have to be careful: flyers were recently distributed in Athens' gay nightclub district stating, "After the immigrants, you're next."

The Nazi imagery is no coincidence here. They are clearly taking advantage of a classic human weakness: when an economy collapses, you can always count on a group of people to resort to racism, bigotry, and violence as some sort of scapegoat. Just look back at Germany's socio-economic stats as Hitler and his cohorts were rising political stars in the years preceding WWII. 

The fact that such a small, extremest political party is able to gain traction now is concerning, to say the very least. What's even more disconcerting is the fact that they are actually trying to expand their influence by opening offices in New York and Montreal. 

Where is the backlash from the ethnic Greeks themselves, or is there a statement from the Orthodox Church that I've missed (I hope so!)? Certainly most Greek citizens aren't on board with Golden Dawn, but it's up to them to counter this kind of backwards movement. 

See the latest Human Rights Watch report on xenophobia in Greece. 

Legitimate Manipulation I Can See From My House

Remember Bill Clinton's "arithmetic" angle in his DNC speech last week? Fox News apparently didn't get the memo as of yesterday, based upon their amateurishly-manipulated metrics on unemployment. I thought that was bad enough, for this week anyway, until the news of the embassy attacks in Egypt and Libya surfaced.

On cue, predictable right-wingers promptly politicized the tragedies--from Sarah Palin's Facebook rant (which starts off with, "Apparently President Obama can’t see Egypt and Libya from his house"--I unfortunately kid you not) to Mitt Romney actually conflating the two separate incidents into one vague and mushy criticism on the Obama administration's nonexistent kowtowing to Muslim extremists. Really.

I'd be remiss to exclude other recent equally concerning comments by our nation's b̶r̶i̶l̶l̶i̶a̶n̶t̶  ̶m̶i̶n̶d̶s̶ loud voices such as Rudy Giuliani and Reince Priebus, which border on the inanity of the Todd Adkin cartoon above. 

Clinton was right by stressing the simple importance of basic arithmetic. And we all know what that really means: education of the American people, not just the elite who are taking advantage of those looking to be "informed." 

oceaniaeuropeamericasafricaasia

That's what this project is called. Originally the creator didn't reveal the color codes for this infographic, saying the viewer can pretty much guess the corresponding issues and continents on his/her own. 

Blue: Oceania (Australia and its proximate islands)

Black: Europe

Red: Americas

Yellow: Africa

Green: Asia

Obesity, Coka-Cola, and McDonald's exist mostly in the Americas (big surprise), while the majority of the world's population, billionaires, and pollution are in Asia. And most of the world's HIV sufferers, guns, and Catholic priests? More here. 

Western Tourists Fuel Endangered Asian Elephant Trade

Tourists in Thailand who have their hearts set on a photo op of their elephant joyrides may think twice if they knew about the highly disturbing baby elephant trade going on. With less demand for elephant-based entertainment, these beautiful and rare Asian elephants wouldn't have to endure an unnatural life of force and abuse. 

While it's easy to think of traveling as a means to get your money's and time's worth once you get to your destination, arriving is just the beginning.

We (especially as Westerners!) have a huge responsibility to travel with a conscience no matter where we go--too much of the global tourism industry is based upon our interests to ignore this fact. And while we enjoy showing off our photographs atop an exotic jungle creature when we get home, generations of these animals will continue to suffer for our trifling moments. 

See more on how to protect our Asian elephants.

High-Skilled Asian Immigration

An LAT op-ed yesterday declared, "It's official! A new study by the Pew Research Center proves the old trope true: Asians are the new Jews."

This comparison is nothing new, but the piece does point out a very relevant question--with the traditional demand for ending low-skilled immigration in our country, does this new research foreshadow calls to end high-skilled immigration from Asia? Education is such a highly contested issue in the US, so since most immigrants from Asian countries arrive with at least a B.A. degree already in tow, this could prove to be a social contention in the future.

But what most discussions on Asian immigrants fail to address is how these families achieved their success through tough, laborious work for years before they ever fit into the upper income brackets of their communities.

Hopefully the mainstream will continue to view this growth as an immigrant wave that contributes to the melting pot, rather than anything based upon the envy and resentment often directed towards the Jewish community for similar circumstances.